How to Attract a Bear

In keeping with yesterday’s theme of attracting animals, I will pass on this tidbit that my father passed on to me. This is for those folks who want to attract a bear, which is definitely something I have never really had a need to do! It’s a simple process…get an old can and some honey. Light a small fire under the can…maybe put it up on some rocks…and then burn the honey. Any bear in the vicinity that is hungry or curious will come to check out the source of the smell. I think before you do this you should make sure that you really do want to attract a bear, and are prepared for one to show up. When I was up in northern Maine, my neighbor was hunting bear, and my father told him to burn some honey. When my neighbor tried it… he shot a young male bear. I remember that he had the bear laying on his garage floor, and our young lab/German shorthair cross did NOT want to go into the garage. She had never smelled a bear before, but she knew the smell meant ’danger’. After much coaxing, she finally entered the garage and gave the carcass a cautious sniff. It was neat to watch her…I wondered how she knew to be so careful.